Scientific research articles provide a method for scientists to communicate with other
scientists about the results of their research. A standard format is used for these
articles, in which the author presents the research in an orderly, logical manner. This
doesn't necessarily reflect the order in which you did or thought about the work. This format is:

Make your title specific enough to describe the contents of the paper, but not so
technical that only specialists will understand. The title should be appropriate for
the intended audience.

The title usually describes the subject matter of the article: "Effect of Smoking on Academic Performance"

Sometimes a title that summarizes the results is more effective: "Students Who Smoke Get Lower Grades"

AUTHORS

The person who did the work and wrote the paper is generally listed as the
first author of a research paper.

For published articles, other people who made substantial contributions to the
work are also listed as authors. Your PIs name goes last but make sure to ask
your mentor's permission before including his/her name as co-author.

ABSTRACT

An abstract, or summary, is published together
with a research article, giving the reader a "preview" of what's to come. Such
abstracts may also be published separately in bibliographical sources, such as Biologic al
Abstracts. They allow other scientists to quickly scan the large scientific literature,
and decide which articles they want to read in depth. The abstract should be a little less
technical than the article itself; you don't want to dissuade your potent ial audience
from reading your paper.

Your abstract should be one paragraph, of 100-250 words, which summarizes the purpose,
methods, results and conclusions of the paper.

It is not easy to include all this information in just a few words. Start by writing a
summary that includes whatever you think is important, and then gradually prune it
down to size by removing unnecessary words, while still retaini ng the necessary concepts.

Don't use abbreviations or citations in the abstract. It should be able to stand alone
without any footnotes.

INTRODUCTION

What question did you ask in your experiment? Why is it interesting? The introduction
summarizes the relevant literature so that the reader will understand why you were
interested in the question you asked. One to fo ur paragraphs should be enough. End
with a sentence explaining the specific question you asked in this experiment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

How did you answer this question? There should
be enough information here to allow another scientist to repeat your experiment. Look at
other papers that have been published in your field to get some idea of what is included
in this section.

If you had a complicated protocol, it may
helpful to include a diagram, table or flowchart to explain the methods you used.

Do not put results in this section. You may,
however, include preliminary results that were used to design the main experiment that you
are reporting on. ("In a preliminary study, I observed the owls for one week, and
found that 73 % of their locomotor activity occurred during the night, and so I conducted
all subsequent experiments between 11 pm and 6 am.").

Mention relevant ethical considerations. If you used human subjects, did they consent to
participate. If you used animals, what measures did you take to minimize pain?

RESULTS

This is where you present the results you've gotten. Use graphs and tables if appropriate,
but also summarize your main findings in the text. Do NOT discuss the results or speculate
as to why something happened; t hat goes in the Discussion.

You don't necessarily have to include all the data you've gotten during the semester. This
isn't a diary.

Use appropriate methods of showing data. Don't try to manipulate the data to make it look
like you did more than you actually did.

"The drug cured 1/3 of the infected mice, another 1/3 were not affected, and the
third mouse got away."

TABLES AND GRAPHS

If you present your data in a table or graph, include a title describing what's in the
table ("Enzyme activity at various temperatures", not "My results".)
For graphs, you should also label the x and y axes.

Don't use a table or graph just to be "fancy". If you can summarize the information
in one sentence, then a table or graph is not necessary.

DISCUSSION

Highlight the most significant results, but
don't just repeat what you've written in the Results section. How do these results relate
to the original question? Do the data support your hypothesis? Are your results consistent
with what other investigators have reported? If your results were unexpected, try to
explain why. Is there another way to interpret your results? What further research would
be necessary to answer the questions raised by your results? How do y our results fit into
the big picture?

End with a one-sentence summary of your conclusion, emphasizing why it is relevant.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This section is optional. You can thank those who either helped with the experiments, or made
other important contributions, such as discussing the protocol, commenting on the manuscript,
or buying you pizza.

REFERENCES

There are several possible ways to organize this section. Here is one commonly used way:

In the text, cite the literature in the appropriate places

Scarlet (1990) thought that the gene was present only in yeast, but it has since been
identified in the platypus (Indigo and Mauve, 1994) and wombat (Magenta, et al., 1995).

In my writing, I average about ten pages a day. Unfortunately, they're all the same page."Michael Alley, The Craft of Scientific Writing

A major part of any writing assignment consists of re-writing.

Write accurately

Scientific writing must be accurate. Although
writing instructors may tell you not to use the same word twice in a sentence, it's okay
for scientific writing, which must be accurate. (A student who tried not to repeat the
word "hamster" produced this confusing sentence: "When I put the hamster in
a cage with the other animals, the little mammals began to play.").

Make sure you say what you mean.

Instead of: The rats were injected with the drug. (sounds like a syringe was filled
with drug and ground-up rats and both were injected together)Write: I injected the drug into the rat.

Be careful with commonly confused words:

Temperature has an effect on the reaction
Temperature affects the reaction

I used solutions in various concentrations. (The solutions were 5 mg/ml, 10 mg/ml, and 15 mg/ml)
I used solutions in varying concentrations. (The concentrations I used changed; sometimes
they were 5 mg/ml, other times they were 15 mg/ml)

A large amount of food (can't count them)
A large number of animals (can count them)

The erythrocytes, which are in the blood, contain hemoglobin.
The erythrocytes that are in the blood contain hemoglobin. (Wrong. This sentence implies
that there are erythrocytes elsewhere that don't contain hemoglobin.)

Write clearly

Write at a level that's appropriate for your audience.

"Like a pigeon, something to admire as long as it isn't over your head." Anonymous

Use short sentences. A sentence made of more than 40 words should probably be rewritten as two sentences.

"The conjunction 'and' commonly serves to indicate that the writer's mind still functions even
when no signs of the phenomenon are noticeable." Rudolf Virchow, 1928

Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation

Use a spellchecker, but be aware that they don't catch all mistakes.

"When we consider the animal as a hole,..." Student's paper

Your spellchecker may not recognize scientific terms. For the correct spelling, try
Biotech's Life Science Dictionary
or one of the technical dictionaries on the reference shelf in the Biology or Health Sciences libraries.

Don't, use, unnecessary, commas.

Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

USEFUL BOOKS

Victoria E. McMillan, Writing Papers in the Biological Sciences, Bedford Books, Boston, 1997
The best. On sale for about $18 at Labyrinth Books, 112th Street. On reserve in Biology Library

Robert S. Day, How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 4th edition, Oryx Press, Phoenix, 1994.
Earlier editions also good. A bit more advanced, intended for those writing papers for
publication. Fun to read. Several copies available in Columbia libraries.

William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 3rd ed. Macmillan, New York, 1987.
Several copies available in Columbia libraries.
Strunk's first edition is available on-line.